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Duluth welcomes Prairie Home Companion this Saturday
Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” broadcasts live from the symphony hall at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center this Saturday evening. The show is iconic to public radio, and this broadcast features some great local talent including Duluth’s Trampled by Turtles and the Grand Rapids High School Jazz Ensemble. (My kids could be in…
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Royal Swedes plan Duluth stop
The king and queen of Sweden are planning a visit to Duluth in October. The news comes just one year after the visit of the king and queen of Norway. That leaves only Denmark on the list for our Scandinavian monarchy punch card. The king and queen of Finland will not be visiting because they…
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Minnesota moose population in danger
The Minnesota moose population is in free fall, according to recent reports. Scientists are preparing us for the possibility that Minnesota might one day soon lose its moose population entirely. The cause is not over-hunting. Rather, moose mortality and pregnancy rates are being affected. Biologists in this Duluth News Tribune article say that a generally…
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Brown on the Air: OSCARS!
This week on 91.7 KAXE’s “Between You and Me” the topic veers into the pop culture apex that is Sunday’s Academy Award ceremony in Hollywood. My essay is just good clean wackiness merged with cultural observation. I have charted my seven-year plan to win an Oscar. Step One: acquire film skills. You can hear the…
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‘Range of Arts’ event set to begin Feb. 25 at Lyric Center
The Lyric Center for the Arts in Virginia, Minnesota, kicks off its annual “Range of the Arts” event this Saturday, Feb. 25. The event, which runs through the following week, includes art exhibits, a crafts expo, a seminar for creative women and more. Check out the Lyric Center’s blog for more. Related posts: No related…
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The Range survives redistricting, but western battle looms
I’ve had a little time to review the new Minnesota legislative and congressional redistricting maps. If you read on, you’ll see what it means to the Iron Range and surrounding political universe. The congressional map is fairly simple. The districts largely retain their shape and constituencies. There are marginal changes in party index, some favoring…
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Range retains similar legislative delegation
Today a five-judge panel has released the final redistricting plan for Minnesota’s legislative and congressional maps. Though there are many large overviews of the plan in the state media, tonight I will spend some time analyzing the impact on northeastern Minnesota House and Senate districts and Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. In summary, the 8th CD…
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A ‘new normal’ for America’s economy?
Thought for the day: Is it possible that America’s 20th century strength (and the backbone of our success here in northern Minnesota’s steel and timber empire) was the nation’s forward-thinking and at times complete domination of the energy industry? Now that oil is becoming less reliable and plentiful as a commodity, we are struggling. Thus,…
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COLUMN: The map is dead; long live the map
This is my Sunday column for the Feb. 19, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Check back on Tuesday for my analysis of the new redistricting maps in Minnesota and how they’ll affect northern Minnesota politics. It will be a very busy week. The map is dead; long live the mapBy Aaron J. Brown…
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MNDOT drops most dramatic Range highway reroute
Minnesota transportation officials are scrapping the most controversial of the potential new routes for one of the Iron Range’s most important highways. The plan would have sent traffic from Duluth along the west side of Eveleth into Virginia and points north. WDIO has the story and corresponding graphic. The highway has to be rerouted to…
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Brown on the Air: PETS!
It’s fundraiser time at 91.7 KAXE – Northern Community Radio. I did a stint on the air yesterday afternoon and will be on with my weekly commentary for “Between You and Me” Saturday morning. That show’s topic is “Love Your Pet” and my essay talks about the natural oddity that is human-animal friendship. I talk…
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Rural Range district feels pain of big plan gone awry
A fascinating story by Elizabeth Dunbar at Minnesota Public Radio details the woes of the St. Louis County school district and the consulting firm it followed in implementing a vast consolidation and construction plan last year. A plan narrowly approved by voters in the seven communities of the large, rural district closed or reduced function…
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The outside is filthy
Our oldest boy, a first grade lad prone to particularity, spent several minutes wiping mud off his gloves and coat this morning. “Why does the outside have to be so dirty? The outside is filthy.” And indeed it is. Here in Minnesota, a land sometimes known only for snow, we continue one of the mildest,…
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Love and Abomination, a poetry collection exploring gay rights & the Range
Iron Range native Jacob Woods, whose public writing about growing up gay on the Iron Range is documented at his blog Good as Gay, spent January preparing a book of poems, Love and Abomination. That book will be released this week for Valentine’s Day. In addition to themes of love, Woods seeks to oppose, in…
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Magnetation still considering Range, Superior sites
The saga of Magnetation’s proposed pellet processing plant at one of four proposed locations continues. It would appear from public discussions that the company is focusing on finding ways to keep the site in Itasca County in Minnesota’s Iron Range region or locating in Superior, where a recent economic boom has been happening. Minnesota and…